ConsumerIT - For Europe's High Volume PC Retailers, Distributors & Builders

Bob’s Byte

German High Tech Company Fights Philippine Customs Corruption-- For More Than 30 Years

06 October 2016 Bob Snyder Bob’s Byte

German High Tech Company Fights Philippine Customs Corruption-- For More Than 30 Years

In the age of internet, every company is urged to "tell its story." Recently at IFA Berlin, the German consumer electronics company, Unimex, told us its story fighting theft and corruption, a story that spans three decades and several regimes in the Philippines.

The moment Stephan Finta hit the bottom of the stairs, he knew what he had to do.

He looked up at the two bulky guards from the Customs Office in Manila who had just thrown him down the stairs. Both had guns drawn and one said, "Never come back here, Finta."

When Finta finally had his chance to tell this story in court, no one was surprised. In the Philippines, violence and corruption were the norm at that time.

Usually a consumer electronics manufacturer (video computers, cartridges, game accessories) from Germany was not a target. And certainly this was not the message the Philippines wanted to send abroad to the international business community.

Sinking Shipping Firm to Cause 2016 Price Disruption

02 September 2016 Bob Snyder Bob’s Byte

Sinking Shipping Firm to Cause 2016 Price Disruption

Korea's Hanjin, container shipping giant, drowns in financial waves and the consumer electronics industry will get swamped.

With too many container ships and freight rates at historical lows, Hanjin files for receivership-- and much of the industry will only now learn how dependent the electronics industry is on container ships.

For example, Daniel Yoo at Kiwoom Securities told CNBC Hanjin handles more than 50% of Samsung Electronics' device shipments from South Korea to the Americas-- as well as 23% of LG Electronics.

Chinese Company Buys Ingram Micro

18 February 2016 Bob Snyder Bob’s Byte

Out of the blue sea, Tianjin Tianhai from China announced it will buy Ingram-Micro, the world's largest technology distributor for $6 billion.

$6 billion for a $46 billion company tells you a lot about the business of high tech distribution. But this story is not about the HOW MUCH but more about the WHO and the WHY.

Tianjin Tianhai began as a humble marine shipping company and turned itself into a modern logistic industry investor and operator, focusing on investment in logistics, supply chain and management-- and financing service for the logistic industry.

Amazon Opens First Bookstore

06 January 2016 Bob Snyder Bob’s Byte

James Daunt, CEO of Waterstones in the UK, told the BBC he hopes Amazon’s push into physical retailing “falls flat on its face.” Daunt has also removed Amazon's Kindle from most of Waterstones’ 280 stores.

You can hardly blame him. It seems ironic the webstore that enrichened itself shuttering so many bookstores-- while crowing about the inefficiency of brick-built stores-- now turns to a physical presence as if it were an Amazon innovation.

More than 20 years ago, Amazon first rocked the book industry with its online sales, a digital disruption--specialized in books--that battered both bookstores and book publishing. In a short time Amazon captured about 25% of all books sold in the U.S. market.

The Merchant of Venice

17 December 2015 Bob Snyder Bob’s Byte

If you caught the last Republican debate, Donald Trump and others were on stage in the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas. That casino stands on the site of the former Sands hotel and is owned by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation whose owner is a major contributor to Republican Party candidates.

While the city of Venice rests famously upon a foundation of loosely spaced wooden piles covered with plates of Istrian limestone, the Venetian Hotel & Casino was built on a foundation of dollars from the computer industry.

How did the computer industry, an industry known in Vegas by its annual visits to conventions as "non-gamblers," contribute to the making of the Venetian?

Remember COMDEX (1979-1995)?

It was the brainchild of Sheldon Adelson, the rapacious show organizer parlayed his computer trade show into Las Vegas casino ownership and a billionaire's influence on the American Republican party.

As of June 2015, Adelson (with a fortune of $28 billion) was listed by Forbes as the 18th richest person in the world.

Now Forbes has put Adelson in the headlines again. This is the story:

Page 3 of 11